Shay comes over quite a lot. He works security and often has jobs that go well into the night, which is why he mainly visits during the day when I’m at school. He’s a nice guy. I like him, and I can see how close he and Brax are. It’s great to experience what true friendship can be like. I haven’t had something like that in a long time. I had a lot of friends before my parents died, but none of them were very close and when I think about it, I’ve never had a best friend. Just a lot of acquaintances, something that went hand in hand with being one of the rich popular kids in high school.
I wake up Christmas morning in my favorite position, a mess of tangled limbs with Elle. It doesn’t matter how many times we move around during the night we always seem to wake up in this position, like we’re magnetized. I pull her in tight against me and I hear a cute sigh come from her mouth. She rolls over and looks at me.
“Morning, babe,” she says huskily.
“Merry Christmas,” I whisper back.
“Our first Christmas together and I have a surprise for you,” I say with a huge ass smile on my face. As soon as those words escape my mouth, she jumps up and straddles me, pushing me onto my back.
“What is the surprise, Brax?” she asks, knowing exactly what her squirming in my lap is doing to me.
“I’m not telling just yet,” I tease as she grinds her pelvis into mine, making me groan.
“Well then, it just means that I can’t give you my morning surprise either,” she states defiantly as she grounds down on me one more time before jumping off and starting to get off the bed. I grab her around the waist before she can move off me and roll her over so that now I’m the one on top.
“And exactly what was your morning surprise, gorgeous? “
“Well,” she says with her sexy grin that drives me insane, “it may have involved this position you currently have me in, or the position I was in just before.”
The look she is giving me drives me crazy with lust. Before I can offer her a smart ass reply, she attacks my mouth and we proceed to give each other ample surprises for the rest of the morning.
We finally get out of bed just before lunchtime because Shay is due to arrive at any moment. Before he arrives, I give Elle her Christmas present. I managed to find an old family photo that was taken about three months before the murders and had it put on canvas for the living room. As soon as she rips the paper off, she bursts into tears. I suddenly start worrying that I’ve done the wrong thing, but when she jumps into my lap I realize how much she likes it.
“Oh, Brax, I love it,” she says in between kisses.
“I’m glad, baby. You don’t need to hide them anymore” I say, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close.
“I love you so much.” Her voice wavering as a single tear runs down her face.
“Hey, don’t cry sweetheart. I didn’t mean to upset you,” I murmur into her shoulder, lightly kissing her neck.
“I love it. It’s so beautiful,” she says, looking over at the canvas again.
“Time for your present,” she announces as she hands me a small box with a bright red bow on top, with a proud grin on her face.
I unwrap the gift carefully and find a black velvet box inside. Inside is a titanium ring with a small emerald in one corner and a small sapphire in the other, very elegantly done, and still masculine. I look at her with wide eyes.
“The emerald represents me and my green eyes that you love so much. The sapphire is for your blue eyes that warmed my soul from the very first time I saw you.” She leans in to kiss me again and I wrap my arms around her, nuzzling her neck.
“Thank you, Elle. I love it,” I say, running my hands through her hair as I bring our lips together.
We get a bit distracted after that, giving each other a few more Christmas surprises mainly of the horizontal variety.
I remember that I have one more gift I need to give Elle. I reach into my pocket and pull out a blue box, wrapped in a white ribbon. She looks at me in shock as I grab her hand and turn it over, placing the box on her upturned palm. I can tell from the look on her face that she recognizes the signature Tiffany’s box. She pulls the ribbon and opens the box, revealing a diamond pendant necklace inside. Leaning forward, I carefully pull the necklace out of the box and gently place it around her neck, securing the clasp before letting it lie against her skin.
“It’s a platinum infinity pendant. I bought it so that you never forget the endless love that I have for you. ”
Hearing that, she pushes me down into the couch and attacking my mouth in a frenzied kiss, leaving us both reeling and gasping for breath.
Of all the days for Gibbons to get in contact with me, it has to be on Christmas Day. I get a text message from him a couple of hours later, asking me to get to a secure line and call him. Having to think on my feet, I tell Elle and Shay that we need beer and that I’m going to head down to the grocery store to grab some. Once I reached the street, I text Shay to let him what’s going on in case he needs to cover for me if Elle gets suspicious.
I find a payphone down the street from the grocery store and call Gibbons as soon as I reach it, eager to find out what is so important that he had to disturb me on Christmas Day.
“Hey, Gibbons, it’s B. What’s up?” I ask when he picks up the phone.
“Merry Christmas, Brax,” he says flatly. “Evans has been putting his nose where it is not wanted and boss man is getting antsy. He thinks we should move Elle to a safe house until we can work out what Evans and Brimstone are planning.”
“I can’t do that to her, Gibbs How would I explain that? It isn’t going to happen, boss. I don’t want her knowing,” I explain, getting more and more annoyed at the responding silence on the phone line.
Finally, he continues.
“Brax, we know you are involved with her—we’re not stupid. But you need to understand that you are working for us and these people will stop at nothing to get what they want. We know that if Brimstone doesn’t get the answer he wants from Elise, he’s going to find a way to make sure he does.”
I sigh loudly.
“Look, Elle has not told Brimstone her decision yet. She’s waiting until after the New Year. He hasn’t been around again since his last impromptu visit and I haven’t seen or heard from Evans since the little message he sent me in the alley.” I can tell by his silence that he has given up trying to persuade me. I might have won this battle, but I’m far from winning the war.